Puff is gone
- Thread starter CarolinaBlue5
- Start date
We can get someone in the portal better than Puff. I am actually happy about it. Puff was a disappointment tbh...
I'll never forget him successfully boxing out Banchero. Seems like he was always making hustle plays and physical plays against guys who were quicker or bigger than him.
He's got 2 years of eligibility left. He'll be a valuable piece anywhere he goes.
I won't deny he's shown us enough flashes to make us think he might be that guy. But he's heading into his 4th year and all we've seen is flashes.
I was really hoping the upcoming season would be when he would finally put it all together. But I've been hoping that every year since his freshman year. As much as I hate to recruit over a promising player, Hubert was going to have to recruit over Puff.
Probably should have said quotes instead of interviews.
Parents of North Carolina men's basketball players say NIT fate was left up to the team
Fathers of three players on the North Carolina men's basketball team say coach Hubert Davis let his squad decide on whether to play in the NIT.
www.usatoday.com
Who?
Now that we have zero forwards on the roster. Who is it we're going to get to to fill out 80 minutes of playing time every game at the 3 and 4 spots? Who are all these portal players that are better than the guy who carried us in the 2nd half of the championship game?
From the perspective of a different coach, Puff could absolutely be worth the risk, if you can afford the risk. Especially if you look at what he offers and think you can do better than Hubert at developing the obvious talent.
We've been saying "we've seen flashes" about every transfer. Why just flashes? Are the players just not as good as we thought? Are they being misused or not developed? Interesting questions to answer.
Hubert is losing every type of player at this point:
- players Roy recruited
- players Hubert recruited
- committed recruits Hubert recruited
- guys that barely played
- guys who have played and contributed a lot
- legacy players
- "Carolina is my dream school" players
- local players
And it sounds like at least 1 more is to come
Yet despite it all, Shaver hasn't been one of them. Even though he's the least talented and worst fit out of any player or recruit. But maybe that changes if Bacot decides to return.
- players Roy recruited
- players Hubert recruited
- committed recruits Hubert recruited
- guys that barely played
- guys who have played and contributed a lot
- legacy players
- "Carolina is my dream school" players
- local players
And it sounds like at least 1 more is to come
Yet despite it all, Shaver hasn't been one of them. Even though he's the least talented and worst fit out of any player or recruit. But maybe that changes if Bacot decides to return.
Who can give us 4.1 pts per game, 24% 3pt shooting, and a couple rebounds, gosh, it will be really hard to find some one that can top that...
Can't argue that his trajectory so far has been disappointing, but I would still rather have him on the team. I just don't think we could count on him to be our starting SF, so we would have to recruit over him from the portal.
I'd really love to know what the major factors were in his decision. He knows he'll be recruited over. But he also knows he'll get decent PT as long as he's healthy, and will have a chance to earn the starting spot.
So why leave? His heath issues and erratic shooting will go with him wherever he goes. Does he think some other coach or conditioning staff will do better for him on those issues? If so, he might be right. Clearly the great shooters on our coaching staff (Hubert and Lebo) have not proved to be great shooting instructors - for Puf or anyone else (maybe Leaky?). Maybe someone else can help Puff become the player he thinks he can be.
Alternatively, was Puff "invited" to leave?
Something else?
So why haven't you been able to type out the names of all these better portal players who are going to fill out the 80 minutes per game we have available at the 3 and 4?
Because we now have to get starters and backups at multiple positions. And surely it will be easy convincing 4 better players to all come and compete for that playing time, since Hubert is well known for playing a large rotation.
You don't have share with him, but please share with the rest of us. I promise I won't tell him.
Seriously, though, I'd love to hear some names of forwards we are looking at.
I understand that Hubert wants some lights-out shooters from the portal. So I get looking at SGs with high 3pt percentages. But we absolutely need SFs and PFs and maybe even a C. Surely some of them can shoot, too?
Well his dad seemed pretty angry with the decision to skip the NIT. Could be as simple as the Johnson family do not believe Hubert knows what he's doing, and they feel Puff needs a decent coach.
After this season, the default answer is leaning toward "misused or not developed." Hopefully this season was a fluke and not what we can expect going forward. But it bears thinking about.
Plenty of forwards in the portal with more coming after ncaa tourney over ,relax ... maybe hubcap is trying to get kids who can actually score in a game like more manek style who knows ...
Real question is if it's Love, or if it's another bench player.
I'd put Hubert's name in if I could.
The biggest question is why is that all we were getting?
If we are really trying to get a SG from the portal, it could be Dunn.
If we are trying to get Cadeau to reclassify, it could be Trimble.
I doubt anyone would be surprised or care too much if it's Shaver, since we hardly got to know him and it's not clear he fits.
We haven't heard Caleb's plans yet, but from the lack of conversation about him, I think most expect him to leave.
If either RJ or Armando transfers, I may have another meltdown.
It's so dang crazy. All these seasons I've watched the masses complain about Leaky starting. They couldn't believe none of the bench wings could steal playing time from a guy that was hurting our offense most nights. Now Leaky is gone, and every single forward on the roster feels they'd be better off on a different team.
I remember Jawad Williams saying he thought McKoy would become our starting SF last summer after playing with him in pickup games. Even he couldn't quite believe Leaky was the best wing on the roster.
I remember Jawad Williams saying he thought McKoy would become our starting SF last summer after playing with him in pickup games. Even he couldn't quite believe Leaky was the best wing on the roster.
Aggreed best case is shaver since he doesn’t really have a future here … anyone else and it’s going to sting.
Someone in the portal.. What did Puff do on a consistent basis? Absolutely nothing. He was always hurt and/or never consistent. I would rather take my chances on someone from the portal..
Best of luck to him in the future.
On the UNC part of this... Who cares? If we find someone who can give us 30 games, it will likely be an upgrade over Puff. And I'm someone who likes Puff's game in general.
Honestly, is it that big of a deal if anyone from last year's roster leaves. We sucked, lol. No one individually is irreplaceable. If someone were that good, and irreplaceable, we wouldn't have been sitting home watching the NCAA tournament this year.
On the UNC part of this... Who cares? If we find someone who can give us 30 games, it will likely be an upgrade over Puff. And I'm someone who likes Puff's game in general.
Honestly, is it that big of a deal if anyone from last year's roster leaves. We sucked, lol. No one individually is irreplaceable. If someone were that good, and irreplaceable, we wouldn't have been sitting home watching the NCAA tournament this year.
I would say this is UNC and there is no need to worry about finding players, but with Hubert now in charge, you absolutely have to worry. These are very dark times in North Carolina basketball history.
Except it isn't just someone. It has to be about 4 someone's because we have no forwards at all now.
You can't tell me you honestly believe we'll get 4 forwards from the portal better than Puff to come play for a coach who is developing a reputation for rarely using his bench, and putting UNC squarely on the bubble every season with his poor game management.
Can we get just one that was better than Puff? Why do we need 4 better than Puff?
Regardless of how "good" the players it is a huge redflag as to the problem being with the staff!
The bigger "red flag" to me was the players were no good.
Get better players, win more games, the program will look fine.
Most of our losses were decided by 1-2 possessions. We missed the tourney by 1 game.
We could have beaten #1 seed Alabama with just a simple post up to Bacot in regulation or any of the first 3 OTs. We could have turned most of our losses into victories by simply making 1 or 2 more 3-pointers.
The point is, the entire team didn't have to be trashed. We just needed a couple roster spots upgraded, and a few better coaching decisions during games.
But now we have zero forwards on the entire roster, more players may still choose to leave, and we have to hope a rookie head coach who is in over his head will find some sort of miracle combination in the portal that will work next season and return UNC to its rightful status.
The last time Hubert had to get multiple portal players he ended up with McKoy, Manek, and Garcia. 3 scholarships, only 1 guy who worked out. Now he's got to get 4+ portal players, and he damn sure can't afford for only 33% of them to work out.
Are you confident Hubert can do that? Here are the recruits/transfers Hubert has landed that have actually shown up in Chapel Hill so far:
McKoy
Manek
Garcia
Shaver
Nickel
Trimble
Washington
Nance
How many of those players that Hubert has gotten into a UNC uniform and coached, do you believe have shown themselves to be smart recruiting decisions by Hubert?
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